Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/509

Rh A L C A L C The elimination of alcohol from the body has been a matter of dispute between different observers. Previous to the year 1860 it was the generally-received opinion that the greater portion of any alcohol taken was oxidised in the system, and only a small fraction eliminated unaltered. In that year Messrs Perrin and Lallemand published an elaborate memoir on the subject, in which they maintained that all, or at least nearly all, the alcohol taken is eliminated unaltered. This subject has been recently reinvestigated by Dr Austin, Dr Thudichum, and especially by Dr A. Dupre&quot;. The main results of Dr Dupr6 s series of observa tions may be summed up as follows : The amount of alcohol eliminated per day does not increase with the continuance of the alcohol diet ; and therefore all the alcohol consumed daily must of necessity be disposed of daily; and as it certainly is not eliminated within that time, it must be destroyed in the system. The elimination of alcohol following the ingestion of a dose or doses of alcohol ceases in from nine to twenty-four hours after the last dose has ben taken. The amount of alcohol eliminated in both breath and urine is a minute fraction only of the amount of alcohol taken. In the course of these experiments the author found that, after six weeks cf total abstinence, and even in the case of a teetotaller, a substance is eliminated in the urine, and perhaps also in the breath, which, though apparently not alcohol, gives all the reactions ordinarily used for the detection of traces of alcohol. The quantity present in urine is, however, so small that the precise nature of the substance has not as yet been determined. The author points out an apparent connection between this substance and alcohol. It was found that, after the elimination due to the ingestion of alcohol had ceased, the amount of this substance eliminated in a given time at first remained below the quantity normally excreted, and only gradually rose again to the normal standard. A careful study of this connection may perhaps serve to throw some light upon the physiological action of alcohol. ALCOY, one of the most thriving manufacturing cities of Spain, on the river Alcoy, in the province of Alicante, 24 miles N.N.W. of the town of that name. It is built on an elevated site at the foot of a gorge of the Sierra de Mariola, and presents a picturesque appearance. There are several handsome buildings and a number of public fountains, but the industry of the place is its chief character istic. The principal employment is papermaking. About 200,000 reams are produced annually, the extraordinary quantity of 180,000 reams being a paper of light texture used for making cigarettes. Coarse woollen stuffs are also manufactured. A very curious festival is held annually in April in honour of St George, the patron saint of the town. Population, 27,000. ALCUDIA, MANUEL DE GODOY, DUKE OF, &quot; Prince of the Peace,&quot; Spanish statesman, was born of poor but noble parentage at Badajoz on the 12th May 1767 (died 1851 ). In 1784 he came to Madrid to join the royal body guard, and by his handsome presence and agreeable manners soon attracted notice. The queen regarded him with great favour, and the weak-minded Charles IV. raised him rapidly from dignity to dignity, until in 1792, on the disgrace of Aranda, he became prime minister. One of the first steps he took on his accession to power was to declare war. against the French convention. Though success at first attended the Spanish arms, the position of matters was reversed in a second campaign, and the war was concluded by the treaty of Basle, signed on the 22d July 1795, for negotiating which Godoy received his title of Prince of the Peace and a large landed estate. He was also made at the same time a grandee of Spain of the first class. In 1796 he formed an offensive and defensive alliance with the French republic, which involved Spain in a war with England. Next year he was married to Maria Theresa de Bourbon, niece of the king by a mor ganatic marriage of his brother Luis. As it was under stood that Godoy had already married Dona Josef a Tudo, this second alliance, though it brought him nearer to the king, did much to increase his unpopularity with the nation. On the 28th March 1798 he found himself forced to resign his position in the ministry, but he never lost the favour of the king, who appointed him grand admiral in 1799. About the same time he was restored to power, and entered into an alliance with Napoleon, having for its object the partition of Portugal. The war, in which Godoy himself commanded, was of short duration, the treaty of Badajoz, signed on the 6th June 1801, securing from Portugal a subsidy to France and a cession of terri tory to Spain. Godoy was rewarded for his service with the title of Count of Evoramente, and an annual income of 100,000 piastres. In 1804 he became generalissimo of the land and sea forces of Spain ; but the honours thus heaped upon him by the king were accompanied by grow ing dislike on the part of the nobility and the people. The higher classes regarded him with jealousy as a parvenu, and he was necessarily xmpopular with a nation that attri buted to him the defeat of Trafalgar, and the stoppage cf its commerce through the blockade of the ports. A change of policy, by which he endeavoured to break off his alliance with France and enter into friendly relations with England, came too late to save his position. Napoleon determined to remove the Bourbons from the throne of Spain, and the invasion of the French troops gave Godoy s enemies the wished-for opportunity to secure his downfall. The prime minister had retired from Madrid, and was making arrange ments for the removal of the king and queen to Mexico, when the project was discovered by the Prince of Asturias, the leader of the party opposed to him. On the 18th March 1808 Godoy was seized at Aranjuez by the mob, who were only restrained from executing summary ven geance upon him by the promise given them that he should undergo a fair trial. Napoleon, however, wishing to avail himself of his influence over Charles, sent Prince Murat to effect his release. He was removed in April to Bayonne, where on the 5th May he signed the deed by which Charles IV. abdicated in favour of the Prince of Asturias. He continued to enjoy the undiminished favour of Charles, whom he accompanied to Rome, his possessions in Spain having been confiscated. On the death of his royal master he removed to Paris, where he received a pension of 5000 francs from Louis Philippe. In 1836-8 he published memoirs of his Life, in which he defends his policy. la 1847 his titles and the greater part of his estates were restored to him, and he received permission to return to Spain. He continued, however, to reside in Paris, where he died on the 4th October 1851. ALCUIN, in Latin Albinus, surnamed Flaccus, an eminent ecclesiastic and a reviver of learning in the 8th century, was born in Yorkshire about 735 (died 804). He was educated at York under the direction of Arch bishop Egbert, as we learn from his own letters, in which he frequently calls that prelate his beloved master, and the clergy of York the companions of his youthful studies. He succeeded Elbert as director of the seminary, and in later life modelled after it his famous school at Tours. He survived Bede about seventy years; it is therefore hardly possible that he could have received any part of his; education under him, as some writers of literary history have affirmed ; and it is worthy of observation that he never calls Bede his master, though he speaks of him with the highest veneration. It is not well known to what preferments he had attained in the church before he left England, though some say he was abbot of Canter bury. He was sent to Rome by Eanbald, the successor of Ethelbert, to procure the pallium, and, in returning, at Parma he met Charlemagne, who, as Alcuin had already visited the French court, was no stranger to Lis extra ordinary merit. The emperor contracted so great an